At one with nature…

Some recent photos from May and June…starting to feel like one of the animals at this stage. Any photography feedback is hugely welcomed!

Art in Nature

Here are a couple of the more artistic images I took in Falmouth, Cornwall last year during my MSc…still only a photographer in progress.

Beautiful mutations

Here is an image of a Plains Zebra (Equus quagga) I captured whilst trundling along in a pop-up van in Kenya last year. Having previously studied modules in genetics, I find mutations fascinating!

Numerous colour mutations have previously been observed in Zebra (black with white spots, reverse stripes & melanism) and on researching this I found that U.C.L.A. have a project running on the ‘Evolution of Stripe Variation in the Plains Zebra‘. This is one I will definitely be keeping my eye on to see the final results.

Update:  U.C.L.A. published a paper last year on the evolutionary reasons behind Zebra stripes for anyone interested ‘How the zebra got it’s stripes: a problem with too many solutions‘

Just a little ‘Hi’

Hi! Just thought I’d start this off with little introduction…I’m new to the blogging world so please forgive any awkwardness. I’m Marina, a zoologist and conservation biologist from Ireland. My interest and love of wildlife started from a very young age (I think I was about 4 when I originally decided I wanted to be a vet when I grew up, which quickly changed to ‘animal behaviourist’) and has since blossomed, hopefully to become my lifelong career.

After four years studying Zoology at University College Cork, a two year thinking/internship gap and a further year spent doing an MSc in Conservation & Biodiversity at Uni. of Exeter, I have been involved in numerous wildlife volunteer programmes and research projects in Africa, Asia and Europe. I’ve worked with some amazing researchers and have seen their passion for conservation shine through even on the toughest, longest days in the field.

Alongside this I thoroughly enjoy photography (I am in no way a professional but I enjoy the learning curve), hiking and a little bit of surfing and rock-climbing – in short, I like to dabble in anything to do with being in the outdoors. After lots of thinking and even more procrastinating, I’ve finally decided to get this blog up and running. The more I’ve learnt about conservation, the more I find myself getting annoyed that it never seems to get as much attention in the public domain as it deserves (I’m sure there are others who know this feeling all too well). With climate change happening, species numbers declining and plastic seeming to literally be everywhere, I’ve started this with an aim to open more eyes to the problems facing wildlife and biodiversity. It won’t all be doom and gloom though, I want to include the successes, track the baby steps and hopefully inspire others to wake up and be aware of what’s happening around us i.e. I will litter my blog with photos to remind us what nature has given to us and what our responsibility is in terms of protecting it from ourselves.

As I am new to this, I welcome all suggestions content-wise as well as constructive criticism on what I can improve. Let the adventure begin…